Display system using system level resources to calculate compensation parameters for a display module in a protable device

ABSTRACT

A system including a display module and a system module. The display module is integrated in a portable device with a display communicatively coupled to one or more of a driver unit, a measurement unit, a timing controller, a compensation sub-module, and a display memory unit. The system module is communicatively coupled to the display module and has one or more interface modules, one or more processing units, and one or more system memory units. At least one of the processing units and the system memory units is programmable to calculate new compensation parameters for the display module during an offline operation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/976,910, filed Apr. 8, 2014, entitled “Display Systemwith Shared Level Resources for Portable Devices”.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As discussed in previous documents and patents, IGNIS Maxlife™implementations can compensate for both organic light emitting device(OLED) and backplane issues including aging, non-uniformity,temperature, and so on. Calculations of compensation factors areperformed with dedicated resources of an electronic video display.

BRIEF SUMMARY

To bring MaxLife™ complexity to a comfort level of portable electronicdevice applications, measurement of an electronic video display panel(such as an organic light emitting or OLED display) is moved to anoffline stage. Accordingly, such a timing controller (“TCON”), ameasurement scheduler, a calculation module, a driver circuitry, and amemory interface become much simpler.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustrating integration of a MaxLife™ displayinto portable electronic devices, such as mobile devices (smartphones)or handheld tablet computers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A system level simplification includes a plurality of possiblemodifications and simplifications, as described in the following tableaccording to each module or block by way of example:

Example Functions TCON Only focused on either driving the OLED pixels ormeasurement of the pixel circuits at a time No correction is needed toeliminate the effect of measurement on driving and vice versa.Measurement Everything can happen sequentially and so Schedulerswitching between different measurement methods is very simple.Calculation System resources can be used to calculate part of module (orall of) the new compensation value for each pixel circuit during offlinemodes. Driver Circuitry Drivers that drive each of the pixel circuits donot need to support different timing at the same time. Memory interfaceSystem memory can be used for calculations and so only storage memorywill be needed.

While the electronic video display of the portable electronic device canhave dedicated blocks for all the functions such as calculating thecompensation values, and controlling the measurement scheduler, some ofthe above blocks can be shared with or offloaded to system levelresources to simplify the overall integrated system. In reference toFIG. 1, a system configuration is illustrated in connection withelectronic displays. According to the example of FIG. 1, a typicalsystem of a portable electronic device includes multiple processingunits such as generic processors, graphic processors, etc. Additionally,multiple memory blocks are used in a typical system. The data can besent from the system through interface blocks to one or more electronicdisplays. There are two main sections in the system configuration shownin FIG. 1: a display module and a system block. The display moduleincludes a substrate that carries the pixels used to display informationfrom the portable electronic device. The system block is physicallyarranged on one or more substrates separate from the substrate carryingthe display module. One or more connector cables can interface thedisplay module with the system block to communicate information, power,and/or data therebetween.

The electronic display can include a compensation block, a timingcontroller, a memory unit, and a measurement unit that can be sharedwith other interface modules, such as an electronic touch screen. Duringoffline operation of the portable electronic device (e.g., when theportable electronic device is in a standby mode), the system processingand memory units of the portable electronic device can be used toperform display or pixel measurements (e.g., measurements of individualor sets of pixel circuits in the OLED display of the portable electronicdevice) and to calculate new compensation parameters while the portableelectronic device is in an offline operation (e.g., the display is darkor not emitting light). Additionally, at least one or more of the pixelmeasurements can be done during an inline operation (e.g., while pixelsof the electronic video display are emitting light) of the portableelectronic device, using system resources or display resources. Themeasurements and compensations can be carried out using any conventionaltechnique previously described, such as in previous documents andpatents assigned to Ignis Innovation Inc.

The interface between system block diagram and display memory forupdating some of the parameters can be achieved through the main memorybus or through the display video interface. When the OLED display is ina compensation mode, the main video interface can be used to transferthe parameters to the display memory or to receive the measurementvalues from the display. Additionally, some of these interfaces can beshared with other blocks, such as an electronic touch screen commonlyfound on mobile devices and tablet computers.

To reduce the power consumption during calibration of the electronicdisplay of the portable electronic device, only those resources requiredfor calibration stay powered ON, with the reset going to power savingmode (where the applicable resources work at lower operating frequencyor lower operating voltage) or shutting down completely. The termsmeasurement, driving, calibration, and compensation have the meanings asthose of ordinary skill in the art of OLED display technology wouldunderstand and use those terms. They refer to different functions, eachof which is well known to the OLED display designer.

In addition, the available resources, such as battery range, can be afactor to enable the display calibration. For example, if the batterycharge is less than a threshold, the display calibration can be put onhold until the battery is charged or the battery of the portableelectronic device is being charged. According to another example, amulti-tiered compensation system depends on available resources thatinclude having a battery lower priority compensation (or calibration),which can be postponed. In other words, compensations can be carried outaccording to their assigned priority level and available battery charge(and, by implication, available resources).

The compensation or calibration or both can be prioritized based on oneor more parameters, area, color, or last calibration time. For example,in reference to emissive displays, blue OLED sub-pixels age faster thanother sub-pixels (such as red and green), and, as such, blue OLEDsub-pixels can have a higher priority than other sub-pixels (which areassigned respective lower priorities).

According to another feature, priority can be assigned based on staticimages. For example, some areas of the portable electronic display canhave static images most of the time (e.g., in a periphery area of thedisplay panel, such as a top or bottom section). These areas can havehigher priority for calibration (compensation) purposes.

1. (canceled)
 2. A portable electronic device comprising: a displaymodule carried on a first substrate and integrated in the portableelectronic device, comprising an electronic video display and aplurality of sub-modules, each only using display resources of the firstsubstrate; and at least one processing unit, included in a system modulephysically arranged on one or more substrates communicatively coupled toand separate from the first substrate, the at least one processing unitconfigured to execute system level applications of the portableelectronic device and to perform compensation related operationsoffloaded from at least one of said plurality of sub-modules, usingsystem level resources of the one or more substrates distinct from thedisplay level resources.
 3. The portable electronic device of claim 2,wherein the plurality of sub-modules of the portable electronic devicecomprise: a driver unit; a timing controller; a measurement unit; acompensation sub-module; and a display memory unit, and wherein theelectronic video display is communicatively coupled to at least one ofthe driver unit, the measurement unit, the timing controller, thecompensation sub-module, and the display memory unit, and wherein thesystem level resources include one or more system memory units of theone or more substrates.
 4. The portable electronic device of claim 2,wherein said compensation related operations offloaded from said atleast one of said plurality of sub-modules forms part of a compensationrelated operation the at least one processing unit shares with said atleast one of said plurality of sub-modules.
 5. The portable electronicdevice of claim 2, wherein said compensation related operationsoffloaded from said at least one of said plurality of sub-modulescomprises controlling the measurement unit.
 6. The portable electronicdevice of claim 2, wherein said compensation related operationsoffloaded from said at least one of said plurality of sub-modulescomprises calculations of new compensation parameters.
 7. The portableelectronic device of claim 2, wherein said at least one processing unitis configured to perform said compensation related operations offloadedfrom said at least one of said plurality of sub-modules during anoffline operation in which the electronic video display is off.
 8. Theportable electronic device of claim 2, wherein the one or moresubstrates is communicatively coupled to said first substrate via aconnector cable configured to interface the display module with thesystem module.
 9. The portable electronic device of claim 6, wherein adisplay memory unit of the portable electronic device is updated withthe calculated new compensation parameters from the system module via amain memory bus or a display video interface.
 10. The portableelectronic device of claim 2, wherein during a calibration of theelectronic video display, only those resources required for calibrationremain powered on.
 11. The portable electronic device of claim 2,wherein calibration of the electronic video display is carried outaccording to threshold criteria including battery charge and resourceavailability.
 12. The portable electronic device of claim 1, whereincalibration of the blue sub-pixels of the electronic video display iscarried out according to a higher priority than a calibration of thesub-pixels of the electronic video display of colors other than blue.13. The portable electronic device of claim 2, wherein a measurementunit of the portable electronic device carries out measurements ofpixels of the electronic video display using the system level resourcesor the display resources or both during an inline operation while pixelsof the electronic video display are emitting light.
 14. A method ofoperating a portable electronic device including, a display modulecarried on a first substrate and integrated in the portable electronicdevice including an electronic video display and a plurality ofsub-modules, each only using display resources of the first substrate,and at least one processing unit, included in a system module physicallyarranged on one or more substrates communicatively coupled to andseparate from the first substrate, the method comprising: executing atthe at least one processing unit, system level applications of theportable electronic device; offloading compensation related operationsfrom at least one of said plurality of sub-modules; and performing atthe at least one processing unit, the compensation related operationsoffloaded from the at least one of said plurality of sub-modules, usingsystem level resources of the one or more substrates distinct from thedisplay level resources.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein saidcompensation related operations offloaded from said at least one of saidplurality of sub-modules forms part of a compensation related operationthe at least one processing unit shares with said at least one of saidplurality of sub-modules.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein saidcompensation related operations offloaded from said at least one of saidplurality of sub-modules comprises controlling the measurement unit. 17.The method of claim 14, wherein said compensation related operationsoffloaded from said at least one of said plurality of sub-modulescomprises calculations of new compensation parameters.
 18. The method ofclaim 14, wherein said performing at the at least one processing unit,the compensation related operations offloaded from the at least one ofsaid plurality of sub-modules is performed during an offline operationin which the electronic video display is off.
 19. The method of claim14, wherein the one or more substrates is communicatively coupled tosaid first substrate via a connector cable configured to interface thedisplay module with the system module.
 20. The method of claim 14,further comprising: updating a display memory unit of the portableelectronic device with the calculated new compensation parameters fromthe system module via a main memory bus or a display video interface.21. The method of claim 14, further comprising: carrying out, at ameasurement unit of the portable electronic device, measurements ofpixels of the electronic video display using the system level resourcesor the display resources or both during an inline operation while pixelsof the electronic video display are emitting light.